Winds wreak havoc across area

April 11, 2011

Local officials were busy responding to various types of calls in regards to the high winds that blew into Hutchinson County Sunday afternoon. Among those calls were for downed poles and power lines, above; and uprooted trees, below.
PHOTOS BY DON RICE

When winds come, they are certain to wreak havoc. This was certainly the case in Hutchinson County Sunday afternoon.
Hutchinson County Fire Marshal Danny Richards said some of the wind gusts that blew across the county yesterday were around 65 miles per hour, and there were reports of some gusts being even higher than that. He said the winds appeared to be the southern portion of a major tornado outbreak.
He said local officials were busy yesterday responding to calls of various kinds. There were numerous calls of downed power lines all over the City of Borger, along with reports of uprooted trees. There were also carports that were uprooted and blew into power lines on Tenth Street. There were minor electrical outages throughout the city.
Richards also said there was an above ground swimming pool on Altamira that was damaged. He said the pool had a concrete foundation, but was pulled from the ground.
There were lots of reports of shingle and roof damage, along with damage to antenna poles.
He said officials responded to a call four miles west of Stinnett regarding a jeep pulling a trailer that was blown on its side.
Officials were also busy responding to fire calls. Richards said there was a grass fire two miles east of the north part of the Canadian River Bridge as a result of a downed power line. 80 acres were burned in the fire.
Mutual aid was also sent to Moore County for a fire that occurred on Highway 287 south of Dumas. The fire was started by a truck axle that burst into flames. Aid was sent to assist Carson County to fight a large grass fire in the White Deer area as well.
According to Richards, the winds finally calmed down around the early hours of Sunday evening.
“The wind finally died down around 7 p.m. and we were really grateful for that,” he said.